Harry's Numbing Charm
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Written on ILoveHarryPotterWithAllMyHeart's request after participating in the writing contest on my newsgroup page. What will happen, if eight year old Harry wish-apparates himself away from the Dursleys into a snowy front garden? AU, OOC, sick!Harry
1. Chapter 1

**Harry's Numbing Charm**

_For ILoveHarryPotterWithAllMyHeart __on her request after participating in the writing contest on my newsgroup page! Please enjoy!_

_I'm not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._

**

* * *

Chapter 1**

Eight year old Harry followed his aunt and his cousin through Muggle London. His aunt spent hours to search for Christmas presents for Dudley and Uncle Vernon. Harry didn't know why, but he felt extremely tired on this cold December afternoon.

Suddenly, an old couple that was dressed in strange clothing bowed deeply in front of Harry as if they knew him and wanted to show him respect. '_How strange; this already happened before_,' Harry mused, while he trailed along the street.

"Aunt Petunia, did you see that strange couple today in town?" he couldn't prevent himself from asking later back at the Dursleys' home. "They bowed in front of me, and it was as if they knew me."

"Ah, they probably knew you, because they knew what good for nothing freaks and drunk heads your parents were; just as strange as you. It's a shame to be related to such people," Petunia replied gruffly, sending him back into his cupboard.

Harry lay down on his mattress and tried to sleep, because he was tired and because he wanted to forget what his aunt had said about his parents. However, he wasn't able to ban the thought of the two strange people he met in town from his mind. '_They were very friendly, and they didn't give me the impression that they hated me or my parents_,' he mused, and for the first time in his life, doubts about what his aunt told him about his parents came up in Harry's mind. '_It can be that Dad drank sometimes_,' he considered, knowing that Uncle Vernon, who was Dudley's dad, drank from time to time, '_but my Mum certainly didn't drink_.' He turned around as well as possible in the small cupboard and tried to think of something else.

'_I wish I could be with someone like the people today, who knew my Mummy and would be willing to tell me about her_,' he thought as he began to cry in despair. Unbeknownst to the child, a bout of accidental magic whirled around the small cupboard trying to fulfil the child's wish, causing him to fall unconscious in a snowy white front garden, many miles away from his cupboard and his loathing family.

HP SEVERUS SNAPE HP

Severus Snape was sitting at the Head table in the Great Hall of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, enduring the Leaving feast on the evening, before most of the students were going to return home over the winter holidays, when all of a sudden an alarm alerted him to the fact that someone or something had just breached the outer wards of his home at Spinner's End.

'_That's strange. Well, I should go and look sometime over the weekend_,' he mused, knowing that he couldn't leave the feast right now, and he didn't worry about the matter either, especially as it only were the outer wards that were breached and not the inner wards that ensured the safety of his home. '_Maybe an animal managed to overcome the wards and is playing in the front garden_,' he thought.

In the morning, Snape escorted the students to the station in Hogsmeade, making sure that all the dunderheads managed to get on the Hogwarts Express safely. When the train finally left the platform, he turned to McGonagall, his elder colleague. "Minerva, I have to go to Spinner's End for a moment, because something breached the outer wards of my home last night. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"All right, Severus. Don't forget our chess match tonight," the Gryffindor Head of House smirked.

"I won't," Snape promised and apparated away, only to reappear next to a river near a row of brick houses. He walked over to the front garden of the first house and quietly entered the garden, noticing that the snow that was not fresh but must have been there for a few days hadn't been touched. '_How strange; a bird couldn't possibly breach the wards now, could it?_' he thought, when all of a sudden something caught his eye. There was a small bundle, lying right next to the front door of the house. '_Is that a child?_' he mused, horrified, knowing that it was hardly possible to survive a longer time in the cold snow.

He stepped over to the small bundle, seeing that it was indeed a small boy. His hands and face felt ice cold, but when Snape touched the child's neck, he felt that the boy was still alive, even if he seemed to be unconscious. He quickly scooped him up in his arms and carried him inside the house, placing him on the bed in his guest room.

With a small pop, Yuki, his house elf, appeared, bowing deeply. "Master Severus, if I had known..."

"It's all right, Yuki; I didn't know either. That boy breached our outer wards last night and has been lying in the front garden since then. Can you help me warm him up?"

Together, they carefully tried to warm the child, afraid that he might die under their hands if they did it too rapidly. Seeing that the boy was dressed in rags that were much too large for him, Snape spelled his icy clothes away, covering the boy in a pile of warm blankets, before he fetched an old Muggle thermometer from the bathroom, once more regretting that he didn't learn the spell to take someone's temperature yet, although Poppy had offered to teach him so many times. He carefully stuck the thermometer under the boy's armpit, frowning as he read the result on the display.

"35.1 (95.1) degrees; that's much too low," he said to Yuki, continuing to warm the child up. When he took the child's temperature again an hour later, the display showed, '40.0 (104).'

Severus sighed. '_He probably caught a bad cold out in the snow overnight, but it could even be a lung infection, considering his high fever. I have to call Poppy_.' Instructing Yuki to stay with the boy, he hurried downstairs to the fireplace to contact the Mediwitch.

A minute later, Poppy Pomfrey stepped out of the fireplace, quietly listening to his story while she followed the man into his guest room. She quickly waved her wand at the child and stated, "He is a wizard, although his magic seems to be quite low."

Snape let out a snort. "His magic is probably depleted, because he apparated himself into my front garden."

"He what? Oh well, then it must be depleted. Anyway, I'm going to wake him up, so that his magic can help heal him faster." She turned to the child, pointing her wand at his head. "Enervate."

HP HARRY HP

Harry stirred. He still felt incredibly tired and hot and cold at the same time. He lazily opened his eyes, looked around, unbelievingly rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, and looked in amazement at the man and the woman right next to his bed. "You look like the kind people in the streets with the strange clothes," he blurted out in delight. '_Am I dreaming?_' he mused, and all of a sudden, he remembered, '_Oh right, I wished to be with people like them_.'

"Hello, little one," the woman addressed him in a soft voice, causing Harry to feel better at once. Nobody had ever spoken to him in such a nice voice. "Can you tell us, who you are and how you managed to come here?"

"I'm Harry," he replied, noticing that his voice was getting hoarse, "Harry Potter, and I wished to be with people, who were nice and knew my Mummy."

The man, who was clothed completely in black, let out a snort, while the kind lady told him, "Hello Harry, I'm Poppy Pomfrey, and this is Professor Snape. We both knew your parents well. You obviously used accidental magic to apparate into Professor Snape's front garden."

"Magic?" Harry whispered, terrified. His uncle had made it very clear that magic didn't exist and that he wasn't even allowed to say the word in his house. '_Here, it seems to be all right_,' Harry mused.

"Potter, did your relatives tell you that you're a wizard?" Snape enquired, trying to keep his voice as friendly as he could, considering that this was the offspring of his school time rival.

"I think you're wrong," Harry croaked sadly. "I can't be a wizard. I'm just Harry, a good for nothing freak and an ungrateful brat."

The two adults threw him a horrified look. "No Harry," Pomfrey said finally. "You're none of that. You're a fine boy and a very powerful wizard, knowing that you managed to come here to Professor Snape's house just by wishing yourself here. However, you seem to be ill. You have a very high fever, probably because you spent the night out in the snow. Therefore, I want to check on you and try to make you feel better."

"I'm fine," Harry whispered, "I'm just a bit tired."

"Let me see," Poppy said in a soothing voice and waved her wand at him several times, before she finally pocketed it. "Harry, you have a very bad cold. It's on the verge of turning into a lung infection. Does your throat hurt a lot? Or your head?" she asked softly.

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I only feel hot and cold at the same time, and I'm tired."

"Can you open your mouth for me, sweetie?" Pomfrey instructed him and lit the tip of her wand to peer into his mouth and ears. "His throat is badly infected," she told Snape, who was watching their interaction closely.

"Potter," he began, but noticing that the boy flinched badly when he called him by his surname, he corrected himself, "Harry, you have to tell us the truth, so that we'll be able to help you."

"I don't lie," Harry replied, slightly offended. "Dudley lies all the time, but I don't."

"Okay Harry," Snape decided to relent for the moment. '_The child is very ill and it won't do any good to upset him_.' He turned to Poppy. "What potions does he need?"

The Mediwitch waved her wand at the boy again with a stern expression on her face. "It might be that he can't feel any pain due to some reason, but we'll check that out once his condition is at least better. I should take him with me to Hogwarts, although I'm not sure how Albus will react."

_

* * *

tbc..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Harry's Numbing Charm**

_I'm not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._

**

* * *

Chapter 2**

"It's all right, Poppy. I'll look after him. I owe that to Lily. Unfortunately, I have to return to Hogwarts too, but even if Albus enters my quarters at free will, he never accesses my bedroom, and until Harry is well enough to run around, we have a bit of time to ask Minerva, Pomona, and Filius for help," Snape replied in a soft, silky voice that sounded very soothing to Harry.

"That might be the best," Pomfrey replied thoughtfully. "Give him the potion for lung infection three times a day and a fever reducer every four hours. No, wait; he is only eight. Give him the fever reducer every six hours. Call me immediately, if his condition worsens. Otherwise, I'll come twice a day to check on him. Severus, shall I ask the others to gather in your quarters tonight?"

"Yes please," Snape replied and gently helped Harry to sit up, so that Madam Pomfrey could make him drink two potions.

"This is for your fever," she gently explained to Harry, pointing to the first phial, "and the other one is for your cold."

"Kay," Harry agreed and obediently gulped down the potions, noticing that he felt better immediately. He threw the adults an amazed look. "Thank you. I don't feel so hot and cold anymore, and it's easier to breathe," he told them gratefully.

"Very well," Snape replied, smirking. "Then this would be the best time to floo to Hogwarts."

Pomfrey nodded her agreement and explained to Harry, "Harry, Professor Snape will take you through the Floo network, which is a magical transportation system."

"We live at a huge school, called Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry," Snape added. "Your parents went to that school, and you're going to attend Hogwarts too when you're eleven."

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

Ten minutes later, Snape tucked Harry in his own bed, glad that Pomfrey had unobtrusively spelled a sleeping draught into the child's stomach, before they had left Spinner's End. That gave him a bit time to think what he had to tell the boy.

Around dinnertime, Harry was still asleep, but he stirred when Snape carefully snuck the thermometer under his armpit. While they were waiting for the reading, he began to tell Harry the most important things about the wizarding world, which he needed to know. Seeing that his fever had already come down two degrees, Snape sighed in relief, before he gently helped the child into a half sitting position, so that he could feed the boy the potions Poppy had requested as well as a nutrient potion.

"Professor," Harry asked hesitantly, "please excuse me, but what kind of relationship did you have to my Mum, sir? I mean, why did I apparate myself to your place? I hope you don't mind me asking," he added in a small voice, before he ended up in a coughing fit.

The Potions Master sighed, before he explained, "I was married to your mother for two years. Nobody except for Professor McGonagall knows that though. At that time, I worked as a spy for Professor Dumbledore against the Dark Lord, and I feared that my position would endanger your mother. Therefore, we separated and a month later, she married your father."

"Exactly a month later, Severus? Are you sure?" Madam Pomfrey blurted out, who had entered the room right in time to witness the professor's explanation.

"Hello Madam Pomfrey," Harry croaked, happy to see the kind woman again.

"Of course I am sure. Why do you ask?" Snape queried, raising an eyebrow.

Pomfrey let out a small sigh. "Severus, in that case you need to check both of your blood. Lily came to me, when she was pregnant with Harry, and I helped her to magically prolong her pregnancy. Until now, I didn't know the reason for such a measure and I already believed Lily had taken the secret with her to the grave."

Snape glanced at the small boy, who looked like the spitting image of his childhood enemy. '_He can't be mine now, can he?_' he mused, feeling utterly shaken at the prospect. "I need to brew the Paternity potion then. Could you perhaps stay with Harry for an hour?"

"That's no problem, Severus, but you won't be able to brew the potion right now, because the others will arrive any minute now," Pomfrey replied, while she made herself comfortable on the edge of the bed, speaking to Harry in a small voice. She told the child about Lily's Hogwarts years, until he drifted off into a most needed sleep.

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall was the first of the colleagues to arrive, wondering why Snape was pacing his living room in obvious excitement.

"What's wrong, Severus? Did something happen?" she asked gently.

Hearing her friend's voice, Pomfrey left her spot next to Harry and stepped over into the living room, where she quietly told Minerva the news.

"Harry? He's here? Let me see him, Severus; where is he?" McGonagall asked excitedly. As a baby, the boy had always been like a grandson to her, and she hadn't approved the Headmaster's decision to leave him with his magic hating relatives at all.

Pomfrey grinned and led her friend into their colleague's bedroom, where Minerva sat down next to the child and proceeded to gently stroke his hot cheeks.

Only an instant later, the fireplace flared, and Pomona Sprout stepped into the living room, where Severus was once more pacing the floor. "Is something wrong?" she asked astonished.

Snape sighed. "Well, sit down here please. I need your help, but I'm going to tell you when Filius arrives."

"All the Heads of House and Poppy? To what do we owe the honour, Severus?" Flitwick enquired excitedly, taking a seat next to his colleagues.

Snape explained to the rest of his colleagues how Harry had arrived at his home and how they had brought him to Hogwarts but didn't know how the Headmaster would react.

"If he as much as even suggests sending the child back to those horrid relatives..." McGonagall began, when Pomfrey interrupted her sharply.

"That's why we called all of you together tonight. You have to help us to find a way, so that Harry can remain here at Hogwarts against the Headmaster's will. The Dursleys obviously didn't treat him well. They verbally abused him, and they obviously neglected him as he is much too small and too light for his age."

"He also seems to have another problem," Snape threw in thoughtfully. "He has a bad cold with a high fever and a throat infection, but he told us that neither his head nor his throat was sore. Either he is very good at lying, or he can't feel pain, which means that either his nerves are damaged to a certain extent, or someone has placed him under a charm."

"Severus, could you bring the child here, so that I can see if there are any charms applied on him?" Flitwick enquired gently.

"Of course," Severus nodded and went to fetch Harry, carefully scooping him up into his arms. "He feels much cooler than before," he informed the Mediwitch.

Flitwick waved his wand at the sleeping boy several times. "I can see multiple layers of charms," he sighed a few minutes later. "The latest one is a concealment charm, which he apparently threw on himself. I don't know what he is hiding though. Then there is a pain numbing charm, which is only a bit older than the other. I suspect that he was hurt and used accidental magic to get rid of the pain and the effect of some kind of injury. Poppy, you'll probably have to deal with that as soon as he is recovered. Further on, there is a very strong charm, obviously inflicted much earlier than the others and by an adult with strong magical power."

"Maybe Lily put some charm on him," Pomfrey replied quickly. "However, I'm worried about the concealment and the numbing charm. How can such a small boy not only be able but be in need of applying such charms on himself?"

"Because the Dursleys obviously abused him," Snape spat.

"Exactly," McGonagall agreed. "Well, let's just make sure that he'll never have to go back there. The problem is just how to convince Albus. When he was a baby, I tried hard to make him let us raise Harry here, but he was too stubborn."

All of a sudden, the fireplace flared and Dumbledore stepped out, looking curiously at the assembled Heads of House, the Mediwitch, and the small child in his Potions Master's arms.

"Good evening," he greeted them gently. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"You're coming just at the right time," McGonagall snarled. "Little Harry was obviously abused at his relatives. He used accidental magic to put himself under pain numbing and concealment charms and apparated himself to Severus' home."

The Headmaster sighed, absentmindedly sucking on his lemon drop, before he explained in a firm voice, "I'm sorry, Minerva, Severus, but Harry has to return to the Dursleys because of the blood wards. Petunia Dursley is his only living relative. Hand him to me, Severus. I'll take him back, before he even notices what's going on."

_tbc..._


	3. Chapter 3

**Harry's Numbing Charm**

_I'm not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes – or tell me, so that I can correct them!_

_All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._

**

* * *

Chapter 3**

"No!" Severus refused, cradling the child close.

"Maybe they're not his only living relatives," Pomfrey threw in and motioned Severus to hand Harry over to Minerva and head to his private lab to brew a most needed potion. "I'll assist you," she suggested, following the younger man into his lab, while McGonagall hurried to call a house elf to order tea and biscuits for all of them.

While they were drinking tea, Minerva informed her colleagues about the suspicion that Harry could be Severus' son.

"But Lily was together with James Potter from their seventh year onwards," Albus threw in incredulously.

"No Albus. Nobody except for me knew that, but Lily was even married to Severus for two years. Severus only let her go, because he thought it was too dangerous for her as his wife in front of You-Know-Who. Exactly a month after he sent her away, which I knew, because both of them informed me, she married James, which I always found astonishing since she never really liked James. Only tonight, Severus and I heard from Poppy that Lily prolonged her pregnancy, so that Harry would be born a month later than scheduled."

"But Harry looks so much like James," Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head, while he watched the child in Minerva's arms.

Forty minutes later, Snape arrived back with a small phial and magically took one drop of blood from Harry, before he returned into his private lab, closely followed by all his colleagues, who didn't want to miss Severus' finishing the potion. He dropped Harry's blood into the cauldron, in which a light green potion was simmering, before he took one drop of his own blood and added it. Under the watchful eyes of his elder colleagues, he stirred the potion counter clockwise, explaining to Minerva that the potion had to turn pink if they were not related, dark green if they were related, and dark blue if they had a parent – child relationship.

An instant later, the potion turned dark blue, and the Potions Master sat down on the only chair in the room in a daze.

"Congratulations Severus. You have a wonderful son," Poppy was the first to find words.

"And you'll make a brilliant father, Severus," Minerva said warmly. "I'm very happy for you and Harry."

Sprout threw her colleague an amused glance. "We're all going to support you, Severus," she promised, smiling.

"Are you sure, Severus?" The Headmaster asked in surprise, nearly choking on his lemon drop.

"The Paternity potion doesn't lie, Headmaster," Snape replied dryly, taking Harry back from Minerva.

"Lily was my best student," Professor Flitwick threw in, while they returned to the living room. "For her, it certainly was no problem to charm Harry, so that he looked like James. The problem is how to reverse the charm."

"Are you sure that you want to reverse the charm though, Severus?" Dumbledore asked thoughtfully. "He will have to return to the Dursleys in any case."

"No Albus. Harry is my son and I'm going to accept him as such. I don't know exactly, why Lily hid the fact from me, but I'm glad that I got to know about it today. I will raise him here at Hogwarts if I may; otherwise, I'll leave together with him," Snape replied firmly.

"Of course you have to raise Harry," McGonagall agreed immediately. "We'll all help you, if you need help raising him."

Pomfrey nodded affirmatively. "Of course, Severus. I'm willing to look after him while you're teaching."

"I assume that the charm I saw underneath the other layers of charms was the one Lily applied on him when he was a new born baby. I can try to remove all these charms at once," Flitwick said thoughtfully.

"Filius, you can't cancel any charms right now," Pomfrey said sharply. "Harry has a bad cold with a high fever, and he has to overcome that first, before you can do something to him that might cause him further pain."

"He can't feel pain, Poppy, remember?" Snape threw in.

"Ah, right," Pomfrey said thoughtfully.

"That can't have anything to do with any charms that are placed on him though," McGonagall threw in. "I remember that he fell and hurt his knee when I saw him the last time as a toddler, shortly before Lily died. At that time he cried because it hurt. So, he really must have cast these newer charms by himself."

Pensively looking at the sleeping child, Poppy pointed her wand at his head and said hesitantly, "Severus, if you don't mind, I think we could ask Filius to cancel Lily's charm without touching the other layers of charms, provided that he's able to do so. Harry's fever has come down nicely, and I think he's well enough to undergo the changes, considered that he won't feel any pain."

"Of course I don't mind, if you deem him well enough," Snape replied in a soft voice. He laid Harry on the sofa, with his head on his lap and motioned the Charms professor to proceed.

Flitwick pointed his wand at the child and mumbled a complicated counter course. Only a few minutes later, he tucked his wand away, nodding contentedly, and everyone watched as Harry's features slowly began to change. His messy black hair turned into Severus' silky hair, and the structure of his bones took on his real fathers'.

'_Thank God he still has his mother's beautiful green eyes_,' Snape mused as he watched his son sleep peacefully in spite of the huge transformation that was going on with his body.

All of a sudden, Harry stirred, yawning, and opened his eyes, looking around terrified at the many people assembled around him. He hurriedly sat up, when Severus' soft, silky voice penetrated his ears. "Easy, Harry. Everything is all right. These are my colleagues, and they came to congratulate us, because we found out that you're not the son of James Potter but my son."

Harry threw his father a confused look, and a small smile began to play on his lips. "You're my Daddy? Is that really true? That's too good to be true."

"Yes Harry, I'm your father, and you're going to stay here with me. You'll never have to return to your relatives anymore," Severus promised his son and pulled him up on his lap, softly embracing the child.

**The End**


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